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THE ORIGINAL NUTTY PROFESSOR & MR. CREATOR

We've spent the last few weeks walking through the biblical month of Av, the ancient season that reminds us to guard the ear gate. Every day our ears are discipled by something. Headlines. Opinions. Advertisements. Fear. Ambition. Our Father's voice is speaking too, patiently waiting for hearts willing to listen.

The wisest people are rarely the ones with all the answers. They're the ones who know Who to ask.

Throughout Scripture, God is our Provider, our Healer, our Shepherd, our Father, and our Creator.  George Washington Carver knew Him by that name too. He simply called Him "Mr. Creator."

George entered this world as a slave. Before he could even remember his mother's face, he and his mother were kidnapped by raiders. George was recovered, barely alive after days of exposure. His mother was never seen again. Moses and Susan Carver secured the little boy's return by trading one of their prized racehorses and raised him as their own. Frail and often too sick to do heavy farm work, George spent his days wandering through meadows rescuing sick plants, studying wildflowers, and asking questions no schoolbook could answer. Long before George found a classroom, he had already found a Teacher.

That classroom eventually moved to the woods.

While the world still slept, George rose before dawn and took a walk in the woods. It's interesting that some of Scripture's most memorable encounters with God also happened before the rest of the world was awake. Jesus often rose while it was still dark to pray. He came walking across the sea to His disciples during the fourth watch of the night. Jacob wrestled with God until daybreak and left with a new name. Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb before sunrise and became the first witness of the risen Christ. George found those same quiet hours to walk with the One he affectionately called "Mr. Creator." Those conversations shaped the man far more than any university ever could.

Then came the question.

George once asked Mr. Creator to explain the mysteries of the universe. According to Carver's own account, the Lord replied, "That is too much for you to understand. Ask something more your size." So George smiled and asked a smaller question.

"Then, Mr. Creator... why did You make the peanut?"

George asked.

George listened.

The Creator illuminated his understanding one question, one observation, one experiment, and one discovery at a time. Proverbs 8:12 came to life: "I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions." One faithful question became hundreds of discoveries.

George taught Southern farmers how to restore exhausted cotton fields through crop rotation instead of stripping the soil year after year. He developed practical uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, pecans, soybeans, native clays, and other crops. He created the Jesup Agricultural Wagon, a movable classroom that carried practical agricultural education to isolated farming communities. His free agricultural bulletins reached thousands of struggling farmers. On Sunday evenings, students packed Tuskegee's chapel for his Bible classes. He was an accomplished pianist, violinist, artist, and painter whose artwork was exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. A fresh flower or leafy sprig was often tucked into his lapel, and fresh wildflowers almost always brightened his laboratory. Although he received a few patents, he chose not to build his life around them, sharing most of his discoveries freely. Presidents sought his counsel. Thomas Edison offered him an extraordinary salary. George politely declined because he believed God's wisdom was meant to bless people before it enriched one man.

By now you're probably thinking George Washington Carver sounds like the original Nutty Professor. Maybe he was. After all, how many people wander through the woods before sunrise talking to Someone they can't see, gather wildflowers for their laboratory, wear fresh blossoms on their lapel, teach Bible classes on Sunday evenings, turn down Thomas Edison's offer, and spend a lifetime asking the Creator for wisdom? Then again, how many of those people help restore America's exhausted soil, transform Southern agriculture, and become the first African American honored with a national monument?

The little boy once traded for a horse grew up to become that man. Only God could write a story like that.

So this week, Mr. Creator may not explain the mysteries of the universe. He just might give you three hundred new ways to see something that's already in your own backyard. Either way, you'll never know unless you ask... and then listen.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given him."

James 1:5

Until next Tuesday (likely after 4:00 a.m.), may your blessings be double and your burdens be light.

Michelle Driscoll

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